The squad in stop-sign-red jackets and berets strode through Central Park, on guard for signs of crime.

It was a familiar sight a generation ago - when New York was plagued by lawlessness that police have worked for years to dispel.

And now the Guardian Angels volunteers have made a pointed return for the first time in more than two decades - citing a 26 per cent rise in crime there so far this year.

Founder Curtis Sliwa says: 'We realize things are much better than they were (in the crime peak of the 1980s and early 90s) but we want it to stay that way.'

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Watching over New York: Curtis Sliwa speaks to members of the Guardian Angels in Central Park on Wednesday. The group made a return to the park this month for the first time in more than two decades

The Guardian Angels, pictured in New York in 1980, started in 1979 and quickly expanded to other cities, welcomed by some people as a tough-minded neighborhood watch but derided by others as loose cannons

WHO ARE THE GUARDIAN ANGELS?

The Guardian Angels began in 1979 and quickly expanded to other cities, welcomed by some people as a tough-minded neighborhood watch - but derided by others as loose-cannon, publicity-seeking vigilantes.

By the mid-1990s, some chapters folded and the Guardian Angels' reputation took a hit when Sliwa acknowledged fabricating some of their early exploits.

Meanwhile, Sliwa was nearly killed in a 1992 kidnapping and shooting that mob scion John 'Junior' Gotti was charged with ordering; prosecutors gave up after four juries deadlocked.

But the Guardian Angels endured and evolved: By 2006, they had a $200,000 New York state grant to do online safety education. They now count about 5,000 members in 18 countries

In New York, Guardian Angels still patrol parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx regularly.

But shortly after Rudy Giuliani's mayoralty began in 1994, they felt policing had intensified enough that they weren't needed to fight crime in Central Park until now.

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City officials stress that the park is far safer than it once was. Still, the renewed patrols by the Guardian Angels - known for both crime-fighting and controversy over their 35 years - are bright-red signals of unease about whether New York is slipping.

'It got better,' until recently, says Sliwa. 'That's why you need to nip it in the bud now.'

Sliwa and eight other Guardian Angels, ranging from graying longtimers to a 20-year-old woman, trooped along roadways, paths and rocky, dark trails for hours one night this week, shining flashlights into thickets, asking people whether they'd had any trouble and eyeballing a quartet of teenagers who quickly took off on bicycles.

Onlookers' reactions ranged from thumbs up to raised eyebrows.

'Time warp!' one passing jogger exclaimed.

'I didn't even know they were still in business,' said Harlem resident Christine Adebiyi, 'but it's great to see them here.'

Curtis Sliwa (pictured this week) says: 'We realize things are much better than they were (in the crime peak of the 1980s and early 90s) but we want it to stay that way'

Sliwa's second wife Lisa Evers in 1984, when she was vice-president of the Guardian Angels. The couple divorced in 1995

Lisa taking notes while patrolling a New York Subway car in the mid-1980s. She now works for Fox 5 News

After years of celebrating crime drops, the nation's biggest city - which has been touted for years as the nation's safest big city - has seen killings rise by nine per cent so far this year, though serious crime overall is down five per cent.

Forty-six per cent of city voters in a recent Quinnipiac University poll said they thought crime in the city was a 'very serious' problem - the biggest proportion since at least 1999.

A quarter-century after the 'Central Park jogger' rape case made the park a symbol of urban danger, officials have boasted in recent years that the 842-acre expanse was one of the safest urban parks of its size worldwide.

However, in May this year, police reported that the total number of muggings in Central Park was 18 so far for the year - compared with 11 for the same period in 2014.

Meanwhile, arrests in the park were down by more than half, with police detaining 67 people compared with 143 in 2014.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa leads members of the Guardian Angels through Central Park on Wednesday. They will now patrol there for a few hours one night per week

Despite this year's increase - largely a result of robberies going from 11 at this point last year to 22 so far in 2015 - overall crime in the iconic park is down more than 80 percent compared with two decades ago, the New York Police Department said. Even with the recent spike, crime is lower than just two years ago, NYPD statistics show.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the park remains 'absolutely safe' and suggests police need no help from the Guardian Angels. 'The NYPD is the best-qualified force to handle the situation,' he said this week.

Police circulating in patrol cars and shining high-powered lights maintain a visible presence in the park at night.

But Sliwa says officers don't penetrate into the secluded spots where criminals could lurk, an argument he underscored as the Guardian Angels passed an unilluminated NYPD light stanchion on a foot trail. Police later said the light is fully operational.

Two Angels patrol the streets of Queens, New York, in 2005. The group still patrols parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx regularly

A member of the Guardian Angels' Safety Patrol stands watch at a NYC Subway station in the mid-1980s

Curtis Silwa poses for a photo on a Subway car in the mid-1980s, when crime in New York was much worse

Making his return: Thirty years on, Sliwa is pictured talking to members of his group in Central Park

Guardian Angels feel much of their function is deterring crime, but if they see it, they're ready to make citizens' arrests, call police and defuse potential problems.

This week, they prompted some young men to move on amid reports that the youths had been throwing rocks at people in the park. The Angels also broke up a shoving match between two other men, Sliwa said.

Sliwa's second wife Lisa Evers was once vice-president of the crime-fighting organization and co-hosted the talk radio show Angels In The Morning on WABC-AM in New York City. The show ended shortly before the couple's divorce in 1995. Evers now works for Fox 5 News.

Curtis Sliwa currently hosts a lunchtime show with Ron Kuby on WABC and is an untrammeled critic of New York City's first-term Democratic mayor, Bill de Blasio, whom he accuses of hamstringing police.

De Blasio has emphasized changing policing to build trust in minority communities, and says the overall drop in crime shows his approach works - though he has had a fraught relationship with the NYPD.

To some extent, the Central Park patrols signal that those 'unhappy with the direction that he wants to take the city are starting to mobilize,' said Queens College political science professor Michael Krasner.

Sliwa (pictured before leading the Angels through Central Park on Wednesday) says police officers don't penetrate into the secluded spots where criminals could lurk

A volunteer looks out of a New York subway car on the Number 7 line in November 2005 in Queens

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Guardian Angels patrolling NY's Central Park again for first time in 2 decades